A Vietnamese cargo ship carrying 62 crew members sank in the South China Sea, leaving 23 people missing, according to Chinese state media.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that the vessel, Khoi Nguyen 18, encountered trouble near Yongshu Reef (Fiery Cross Reef) on Saturday evening. Rescue teams have so far saved 39 crew members.
China's Xinhua news agency said a Chinese rescue vessel detected a distress signal from the ship shortly before 6:30 pm local time. Search and rescue operations are underway, involving six Chinese vessels, a rescue helicopter and one Vietnamese vessel.
According to authorities in China's Hainan province, the Vietnamese-registered cargo ship is nearly 70 metres long.
Vietnam's foreign ministry has not yet commented on the incident.
The accident occurred in the South China Sea, a strategically important waterway where China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping territorial claims.
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